Official announcements made at Washington showed that approximately half a million soldiers had landed in France since the German drive began on March 21, 1918, and that Americans held no more than fifty miles of the whole western front. One element of Pershing's mobile forces, by direction of General Foch, guarded the way at the apex of the whole German wedge near Montdidier. Cantigny, which was captured by these forces, was very close to the point of maximum penetration achieved by the enemy after nearly three months of desperate fighting. The total casualties sustained by the American Expeditionary Forces from the beginning of American participation in the war up to June 17, 1918, is shown in the following figures issued by the War Department at Washington: Deaths. Total. Killed in action 881 Lost at sea 291 Died of wounds 364 Accident and other causes 422 Died of disease 1,234 ----- Total deaths 3,192 Wounded 4,547 Missing, including prisoners 346 ----- Grand total 8,085 First American Offensive a Success Capture of Cantigny by General Pershing's Troops Described in Vivid Detail By THOMAS M. JOHNSON _Correspondent with the American Army_ _This stirring narrative of the first attack and capture of enemy territory by the American forces in France was written by a staff correspondent of The New York Evening Sun. It constitutes a memorable chapter in our military history, not because of the size of the town captured, but because the event marks the beginning of offensive operations in Europe by the United States Army. The brave men who took Cantigny--at the apex of the German salient aimed at Amiens--continued to hold it against all counterattacks through the succeeding weeks. Under date of May 29, 1918, Mr. Johnson cabled from the front:_ The Americans have made their first real attack of the war, and it is a complete success. Advancing up a wooded slope behind French tanks and protected by a perfect and annihilating barrage from French and American guns, our infantry at 7 o'clock Tuesday morning, May 28, stormed and captured the village of Cantigny, northwest of Montdidier, and the German defenses to the north and south, making an advance of a mile on a two-mile front.